I'm Just Getting Started...

        I absolutely love it when a seemingly normal event can have such a tremendous effect on your life. You wake up one morning, pretty sure of where you are heading and what you need to do to get there, and the next thing you know, everything changes. I guess I should back up a little bit.

 
   This is my Melanie Rose. She is the younger of my two daughters. Melanie is the sweetest, silliest, most loving little girl... until the attitude surfaces. This little girl has more attitude than any other I have ever met. And she can dish all out with the sweetest smile on her face. A smile so bright, it makes you forget that you are even upset.
   
    Melanie just turned 5. We start planning parties months before hand. I find, especially with Melanie, her theme seems to change from day to day. So I like to do my research (Thank you Pinterest) ahead of time, so I can have time to "DIY" it up. And for the past few months we have gone back and forth between a few themes. About a month before her birthday, Melanie finally narrowed it down to 3 party themes. The first theme, was a Brave Party. She was excited about that theme for about 2 days. So our "Brave" board is fairly limited (Jessica Michelle's Brave Pinterest Board).  Once we decided that Brave was out of the picture, Melanie decided that she would go with a Barbie theme (Jessica Michelle's Barbie Pinterest Board) rather then a Little Mermaid themed party. Figuring that she would probably change her mind to the Little Mermaid Party, I continued to pin away for both themes (Jessica Michelle's Little Mermaid Pinterest Board). And, just as I expected. With about a week and a half to spare, she changed that pretty little mind of hers. But, at least I was ready!

       With two little girls, it is definitely a challenge to give them everything they desire (in moderation). When it comes to my daughter's birthday days, I always try to give them the birthdays that I wish I could have had growing up. I would much rather spend money on gifts, then on the food and the decorations. So, I try to DIY it up as much as possible. Some say I am over the top... to those people I say, "I'm just getting started".

       Here are a few pictures from Mellie's party. DIY tutorials on the streamers and the "poof balls" (as Mellie called them) coming soon! I had so much fun making these decorations and setting up everything for the party. But, what really made everything worth it, was Mellie saying to me that everything looked so "magical". Every time the balloons would get caught in the wind, the girls would say that fairies were carrying the balloons through the air.

                            {Photo credit Dangie Grathoff - http://dangiemariephotos.wordpress.com/)

                            {Photo credit Dangie Grathoff - http://dangiemariephotos.wordpress.com/)

                          {Just me and my IPhone -follow me on Instagram @ _Jessica_Goetke_)

      I'm definitely a DIY kind of girl. If I can do. I will. And, if I can't... then oh well, there is someone else who can. I fully admit that I am one of MANY women, who spend way too much time on Pinterest. And that doesn't bother me in the least. I definitely tried out a few of the projects I found on Pinterest for Mellie's party. Some turned out amazingly... and some, well, some didn't happen. But at the end of the day, I had one very happy, cupcake loving, little birthday girl.

    After all of the planning, decorating, and running around I realized something. This is what I love. I love the stress of it all. I love creating magical days for people. For months I had been searching for a new career, but nothing was jumping out at me. Nothing was exciting me. Until now. I realized, this is what I want to do with my life. I want to create lasting memories. I want to help people be able to look back and remember these moments as some of the most magical moments they have ever experienced. So... I am going back to school to be an event planner. And I couldn't be happier.